Dramatic Exchange Rates on the Markets This Week

Welcome back to another report, taking in the first full trading week in September. How did it rate for the British pound?

An overview of the currency markets for September 7th – September 11th 2015

The week started in promising fashion against the US dollar. The pound began on 1.5226 and by the end of Monday it had risen to 1.5261. Did this bode well for the remaining days ahead? It seemed to, because the pound rose again on Tuesday, this time hitting 1.5408 – quite a jump from the day before. There was a shock in store for the midweek point though. The pound fell back to 1.5362 here, making us wonder whether the remainder of the week would be heading in the same direction. Fortunately this was not to be the case. The pound rose to 1.5394 on Thursday before achieving the highest rate of the week against the US dollar on Friday, at 1.5422.

Over to Europe now, and the pound began the week on 1.3670 against the euro. We enjoyed two days of good results to begin with, taking the pound to 1.3804 in the process. However the rest of the week would not be in the same vein. Indeed we were met with a series of falls after that, taking the pound back down to 1.3687. Fortunately the gains we made during those first two days gave us enough of a cushion to keep the closing rate slightly above the opening one on Monday.

The pound began trading on 11.800 against the Hong Kong dollar and we had two great days to start things off here as well. For example we managed to climb to 11.942 by the time Tuesday night rolled around. We then dropped back on Wednesday, this time to 11.906, mirroring the falls we’d seen elsewhere. Fortunately the final two days were good here, taking the British pound up to 11.952 to finish things off on Friday evening.

Next up was the head-to-head against the New Zealand dollar. Here the pound started on 2.3893 before climbing impressively on Monday to hit 2.4373 by the end of the day. The pound went up a little further to 2.4498 the following day as well. After a drop on Wednesday that by now was sounding familiar, taking the pound to 2.4080 as a result, the final two days were much better. In fact by the time trading was over for the week the pound was on 2.4519. This meant it had improved by over six cents across the week.

Finally we should check in on the head-to-head with the Australian dollar. The pound opened on 2.1801 before climbing to 2.2054 by Tuesday evening. Then we had two days’ worth of poor results, sending the pound back down to 2.1789 in the process. Could it regain those losses in a single day? The answer was yes, because by Friday evening it was on 2.1838 – slightly higher than it had opened on.

Notable events in the world of currency

A good performance against the Canadian dollar

There was much to celebrate here as the British pound began the week on 2.0144 and ended it on 2.0455 against the Canadian currency.

Another good result, this time against the Swiss franc

Here too the result went in favour of the British pound. We ended up beginning the week on 1.4817 and ending it on 1.5098.

Not such good news against the Icelandic krona

The British pound wasn’t going to have good results everywhere though. Here it started trading Monday morning on 197.408 and finished Friday evening rather lower down on 196.553.

Despite that last result, things were quite good everywhere else. All in all it wasn’t a bad week for the British pound, with some impressive results here and there that managed to make headlines. Perhaps next week the luck will change, but for now things are looking very good indeed. What will happen when the markets open again on Monday?